Fuzzable Blogs – The day I met Karen McManus

The author of “One Of Us Is Lying” and “Two Can Keep A Secret” visited Zurich!

As 2019 is coming to an end, everyone is looking back in one way or another. I was thinking of some events, shows, concerts I went to over the year and although everything was fun and kind of worth sharing, however, there was one day that I want to get more into in particular.

Being a book nerd, there is barely anything more exciting than getting my hands onto new books.
But getting the chance to attend a reading session including the signing event with one of your favorite authors for free…YES, that is an absolute no. 1 thing to happen!

In the course of a week, from the 22nd – 27th of October 2019, various authors of every possible genre visited Zurich to attend the book festival called ‘Zürich liest’. While Zurich is a city where something’s always going on but in my personal opinion, there isn’t enough going on when it comes to people loving books. The festival took place for the second time this year and you can imagine my reaction as I checked on the programme and stumbled over Karen McManus’ name!

I checked the programme while I was waiting for a cable car; the 25th of October was only two days away and the programme said the whole thing was for free and only needed a phone call to register. I’ve never had the chance to attend an event that easily! The room in the back of the restaurant felt like the little hall at school where I used to perform in school plays. Not very big, but very lovely.

Overall we might have been 20 to 25 fans who took their seats. I have to say, I felt the excitement!
The swiss book blogger Josia Jourdan was the host of the whole reading session and interview which were delivered in German and English. After we’ve been given a reading of Karen’s new book “Two Can Keep A Secret”, we were also allowed to ask questions. An opportunity which some of us – myself included – gladly jumped onto after the reading and interview questions of and about One Of Us Is Lying.

Not to ruin some of the things happening in her books, but Karen was just lovely and answered all the questions with enough details so we got some information of what MIGHT happen and what she has to keep a secret until we all read her book babies. Questions about how she came up with the idea to write about twins in “Two Can Keep A Secret” is pretty simple to answer, that’s not a secret. They run in her family. Her siblings are both parents to twins and she’s the only one with just one child.

Future projects? Well, they are all in the making and there will be – most likely – two books which will be published in 2020! YES! 2020 will be a great one for us book nerds!

As the microphone came closer and closer, I got more and more nervous. Being at the center of attention, the way you automatically are in the spotlight when you have to use a microphone is nothing I feel pretty good or confident about. Well…I just held onto it like an anchor, took a deep breath and somehow made it and ask away! Does she know writer’s block?

Well, yes…She only needed 2 months to write “One Of Us Is Lying”, four if we include the editing stages. But as it came to “Two Can Keep A Secret”, she fell into her very own kind of writer’s block.
While she had people to read her drafts, she tried to appease them and wrote three different drafts, which took her nine months to complete. In the end, she dropped the two drafts she wasn’t into at all and wrote what she felt would be best and that’s what became Two Can Keep A Secret!

Sadly, this very cool event ended only 45 minutes later. However, of course, we got the chance to let our books signed. And I couldn’t be happier to show you some of my highlights.

A post shared by VanyLovesMusic (@vanylovesmusic) on Oct 25, 2019 at 11:39am PDT

As a fan, I could not be happier about this day and I can’t wait to see what Karen has got in store for us! One thing is for sure: If you like YA – crime stories then, her books should go down your reading list.

Which event you’ve been to, was your favorite so far?Share it with us via @Fuzzable .

I love writing, music, especially concerts and books!
In my spare time you will find me at my favourite bookstore checking on all the new releases, at a coffee shop reading or writing my own little bits and pieces. In that time, I mostly listen to my favourite songs by 5 Seconds Of Summer, One Direction, (solo aswell, of course!) Ed Sheeran, Anne- Marie, Green Day, The Rolling Stones or the Beatles.
And I LOVE to wear something with stripes and polka dots!

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